07.19.17

I hardly know where to begin… It’s been a challenging and rewarding year so far and quite a long time since I’ve posted anything. In December my Husband’s Father passed away just a few days before Christmas. In January my Mom passed away just a few days after New Years, and just 1 day shy of her 72nd birthday. Both deaths were unexpected and both combined were devastating. Even with wonderful family support there has been a lot of work and grieving in closing their estates. My father-in-law lived in San Diego county a 4 hour round trip from our home and my task was to hire the contractors to do renovations on his home, make all the design choices and handle all the details of selling his home. My mom lived in Iowa so I was there with her for the final week while she was in the hospital, then back again for another week to help sort and move her personal items, design the grave marker and hold the memorial.

In between all that “A Couple of Old Broads” did shows in Ontario:CA, Phoenix:AZ, Mesa:AZ, Tuscon:AZ, Livermore:CA, and Reno:NV, and I spoke at Quilt Guilds and held workshops in Aliso Viejo:CA, Santa Maria:CA, Northridge:CA, taught at the Reno Sew and Quilt Expo and I will be headed up to central California soon to do presentations at 2 more Guilds and another workshop. Whew!!

July 25 – I’ll be presenting my trunk show “A Quilters Year” sharing how my Southern California home changes seasons thru quilts at the Central Coast Quilters Guild in Arroyo Grande, CA and I will be teaching my “Harvest Scarecrow” workshop on July 26. In this class we use fabric markers and inks to add detail and shading to enhance our applique, and you learn some free-motion quilting for the background cornstalks as well.

July 27 – I present “CREATE! keys to unlocking your creative power” at the Old Town Quilters in Nipomo, CA.

August 3 – “CREATE! Keys to unlocking your creative power” for the Acadia Quilt Guild in Buena Park, CA followed by my “Cutting Mat Tote Bag”” workshop on August 5. A one day class where we build a bag to fit our 18″ x 24″ cutting mat with pockets to fit our rotary ruler and rotary cutter as well.

August 8 – “CREATE! keys to unlocking your creative power” at the Pine Needles Guild, in Wrightwood, CA followed by Saturday the 12ths Workshop “MiPhone your Phone bag” a great cross body mini messenger bag that is customized to fit your personal cell phone, another project typically finished in the 1 day class.

Most of the presentations are open to non-members, either free or with a modest admission fee. Workshops are open for a fee, space permitting. Contact me at LaurettaCrites@gmail.com or the guilds directly for more information.

08.09.16

Sometimes what we really need is some new thinking. It’s so very easy going around just reacting to what happens to and around us. But, in order to CREATE! our lives, we need to grab the reigns of our mind and say “Whoa! Slow down! I’m in charge here!” Our minds go racing off at a million miles a minute and most of it is not serving us. Our minds can be like wild horses reacting. You may not know this, but, if what you are thinking makes you unhappy or keeps you from your pursuit of happiness it is not serving you. These thoughts can be reactions to events or just the kind of low grade negativity that prevents you from going for it.

Lets say for example, I would really like to have an article published in a magazine. Now for me that is exciting and a little intimidating. Even with my experience It’s easy for me to think…”I don’t have a clear idea for an article” “They probably get dozens of submissions every day by people with more writing experience than me”, “that magazine fits my work BUT, …”

Or I can REACH for those better thoughts

“If I sit and brainstorm, I bet I can come up with 5 ideas for an article”, “I don’t have to write the whole article, just submit a proposal” “Magazines are always searching for new ideas” “Nothing is truly new, even older ideas can be recycled” , ” Writing a proposal will be good experience” “Even submitting a proposal will give me some name recognition”

Which will be more likely lead to action? The negative defeating thoughts, or the better more empowering thoughts?

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not… you are right. – Henry Ford

12.01.15

If the quilt is just for you, YOU GET TO PICK every single little detail. You choose the colors, the pattern and the fabric will it be batik or cotton or Minky? You pick what you want, what YOU like best. It can be the same with life. The problem is most of us don’t know how to put in our requests.

We constantly contradict our desires.

I love old movies, one of my favorites is the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. In the film Stewart’s character has a guardian angel, do you remember? Named Clarence. Imagine for a minute that Clarence is your personal angel. Now Clarence is a really sweet guy but a bit bumbling, he’s a little deaf and not up on the latest fads. He wasn’t even born in the last century (Heaven is an equal opportunity employer, after all…) but Clarence has great intentions and has access to immense power. Everything you could ever want is available to him love, wealth, health, success… and he is standing by ready with his orders to deliver to you what ever you ask for , nothing is too big or too small. Clarence is there ready willing and able to deliver to you anything you want. He hears you say “oh, look at that awesome jacket, I would love to have that jacket” Clarence starts over to make all the cogs move to pack it up for you and before he can get there you say “look at the price, no way, I can’t afford that” so he hears “I can’t afford that” so he moves on to giving you more of “you can’t afford it” instead. Back and forth it goes, poor Clarence gets worn out and you get nowhere.

Things CAN go better for you than they have, you just have to stop being your own NO.

I don’t mean go out and buy a lot of stuff you can’t currently afford. Instead, become aware of where you are getting in the way of what you really want most. What countering mind sets do you have? Where do you say NO to you? Do you say:

I can’t afford it – I don’t have enough time – I’m too old – I’m not smart enough – I don’t deserve it – I won’t win

You are powerful and your requests are heard. Request what you want, not what you don’t want.

When we talk about or mentally stew over the things that are going wrong in our lives, we put in more requests for things to go wrong.

Talk, think, draw, paint and quilt the things you do want. Don’t say NO to you. Don’t worry about the details, leave the how’s up to Clarence. Just stop requesting what you don’t want, that’s enough to start the cogs moving again in your favor.

We can order up our lives just like the details of our quilt creations. Request what you want, not what you don’t want.

09.08.15

For me it begins with the idea that being happy and feeling joyful improves every area of your life. That the very act of feeling good, of being happy, draws to you “magnetizes” all the good stuff you want to come into your life.

Now this really excites me, it excites me that the more I practice and the better I become at using these universal principals the more beautiful and enjoyable my life becomes and I want that for you, too!

C – The first letter in CREATE! is “C” and “C” stands for CHOOSE. In quilting we begin by making a choice. The 1st decision or choice we have to make is what do we want? Nothing can happen until we decide. Until we choose. Will we make a wall quilt or a bed quilt a baby quilt or a tote bag? When we decide for ourselves that is called a conscious decision and with that we create the world around us. BUT – it’s very important to recognize that not all decisions are conscious ones. Many if not most of our day to day creating is done unconsciously.

We want to be conscious creators of our lives. The best way to be happy with your conscious choice is to follow you heart when deciding. Which means choosing things because they are what other people want for you doesn’t really work, your choices must come from your own heart.

If you are interested in a hands on experience of CREATE! I will be holding a class:

Visioning in Fabric:

Visualization is a powerful tool for focusing used to help us achieve our goals. In this workshop we will be creating a small (approx. 11” x 17”) wall hanging to help get us in the “feeling place” of our dreams. Experts agree the more you can “feel” the way achieving your dream will feel, the more likely you are to achieve it. Immerse yourself in the powerful energy created as we work together. This is your dream, there is no should. Use colors that speak to you, embellish as your heart desires. You may make your piece as literal or as abstract as you want. As long as your quilt makes you smile and reminds you of your desire, it’s perfect. You will learn some tips and tools for taking your dreams from fabric to fruition and the cutting edge science that makes quilting the perfect tool for not only visualizing but achieving your dreams. Redlands Sewing Center, Sept 29 6pm (909) 792-3994